Social Media Examiner: Social mediamarketingreport2011

2011 SOCIAL MEDIA
MARKETING
INDUSTRY REPORT

How Marketers Are Using
Social Media to Grow
Their Businesses

APRIL 2011

BY MICHAEL A. STELZNER

Sponsored by

Copyright 2011, Social Media Examiner

Letter from the author…

Hello, fellow marketer;

Social media has gone mainstream. And for businesses it represents an unprecedented
marketing opportunity that transcends traditional middlemen and connects companies
directly with customers. This is why nearly every business on the planet is exploring
social media marketing initiatives.

This is our third annual study. Two years ago, businesses were uncertain about social
media. Now it's here to stay and companies are rapidly responding to new social media
opportunities.

This 41-page report contains insight into how marketers are currently using social
media and their future plans.

If you're in charge of marketing your business, you'll want to closely examine the
following pages. My team turned over every rock, looking for the "not so obvious"
findings among this data-rich content. We set out to uncover the "who, what, where,
when and why" of social media marketing. More than 3300 of your fellow marketers
provided the kind of insight you won't find elsewhere.

I hope you enjoy it! If you find value here, please let your peers know about this
report. You can find the original page for the report here:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-marketing-industry-report-2011/

All my best!

Michael A. Stelzner
Founder, SocialMediaExaminer.com

Join the discussion on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/smexaminer

Copyright Statement: All content © 2011 by Social Media Examiner - Copyright holder is
licensing this under the Creative Commons License, Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative
Works 3.0 Unported, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. (This means you can
post this document on your site and share it freely with your friends, but not resell it or use as an
incentive for action.)

2011 Social Media Marketing SocialMediaExaminer.com Page 2 of 41
Industry Report © 2011 Social Media Examiner

Table of contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .....................................................................................................4
MAJOR FINDINGS ............................................................................................................5
TOP 10 SOCIAL MEDIA QUESTIONS MARKETERS WANT ANSWERED ..................................6
USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ...............................................................................11
TIME COMMITMENT FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ....................................................13
BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING .......................................................................16
COMMONLY USED SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS ......................................................................21
HOW WILL MARKETERS CHANGE THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITIES IN THE FUTURE? .......24
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS PEOPLE WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ......................................30
SOCIAL MEDIA OUTSOURCING ......................................................................................32
OTHER FORMS OF MARKETING .....................................................................................33
HOW WILL MARKETERS CHANGE OTHER ACTIVITIES IN THE FUTURE? .............................34
SURVEY PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHICS .........................................................................39
ABOUT MICHAEL A. STELZNER ......................................................................................41


Executive summary
This study surveyed over 3300 marketers with the goal of understanding how marketers
are using social media to grow and promote their businesses. On the following pages
you'll discover:

• The top 10 social media questions marketers want answered: We analyze
2278 open-ended responses and summarize all the major questions that
marketing pros want answered.

• The time commitment: We examine the weekly hours marketers invest in their
social media efforts. This analysis will be helpful for marketers just getting
started or seeking support staff.

• The benefits of social media marketing: This rather beefy section reveals all
the major advantages marketers are achieving with their social media efforts. We
also look at how time invested, business size and experience affect the results.

• Commonly used social media services: Discover which tools marketers are
using and how their usage is changing this year. We also examine which tools
experienced marketers are using.

• Social media sites people want to learn more about: In this section, we
examine the up-and-coming tools (like geolocation and Groupon) that marketers
are most interested in learning about.

• Other analysis: We also examine social media outsourcing and how marketers
plan on using other forms of marketing. In addition, we take a look at how
business-to-business (B2B) companies differ from business-to-consumer (B2C)
companies and whether the size of a business has any bearing on results. We
also highlight significant changes since our 2010 study.

How to use this report: Regardless of your experience with social media marketing,
there's something here for you. If you're a beginner, take a look at the time
commitment, benefits and tools that your peers are using.

If you've been at this for a while, compare yourself against other marketers, see what
tools they're looking at next and see whether you're achieving the same benefits as your
more experienced brethren.

If you're a social media guru, there's tons of material here to help you develop lots of
"how-to" products. You'll want to pay close attention to the top 10 questions section.


Major findings
Here's a quick summary of our primary findings:

• Marketers place high value on social media: A significant 90% of marketers
indicate that social media is important for their business.

• Measurement and integration are top areas marketers want to master: One-
third of all social media marketers want to know how to monitor and measure
the return on investment (ROI) of social media and integrate their social media
activities.

• Social media marketing takes a lot of time: The majority of marketers (58%)
are using social media for 6 hours or more each week, and more than a third
(34%) invest 11 or more hours weekly.

• Video marketing on the rise: A significant 77% of marketers plan on increasing
their use of YouTube and video marketing, making it the top area marketers will
invest in for 2011.

• Marketers seek to learn more about Facebook and blogging: 70% of
marketers want to learn more about Facebook and 69% want to learn more about
blogging.

• The top benefits of social media marketing: The number-one advantage of
social media marketing (by a long shot) is generating more business exposure,
as indicated by 88% of marketers. Increased traffic (72%) and improved search
rankings (62%) were also major advantages.

• The top social media tools: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs were the top
four social media tools used by marketers, in that order. Facebook has eclipsed
Twitter to take the top spot since our 2010 study.

• Social media outsourcing underutilized: Only 28% of businesses are
outsourcing some portion of their social media marketing.

The above summary is merely a taste of what's in this report. On
the following pages you'll find more than 50 charts that visually
convey some of the fascinating findings of this report. For
example, we look at which tools are used by those who invest
the most time in social media marketing and the benefits
achieved by those who've been at this for years.


Top 10 social media questions marketers
want answered
We simply asked, "What question about marketing with social media do you most want
answered?" A significant 2278 people provided their open-ended responses. We
clustered them into groups and ranked them below.1

#1: How do I measure the effect of social media marketing on my business?

The top question marketers most want answered is how to monitor, measure and track
the ROI of social media activities. A sampling of some of those questions includes:

• How do I show a solid ROI for social media marketing in terms of time and
resources spent?
• What are the key metrics to follow for measuring ROI in terms of engagement,
sales, brand loyalty and customer retention?
• What measurement tools are available that can track results across multiple
social media platforms and/or businesses?
• How much is a Facebook friend or fan worth to my business?

#2: How do I integrate and manage all of my social media marketing activities?

The next question on people's minds can be summarized as "How do I connect and
manage all aspects of social media?" A sampling of questions in this category includes:

• How do I best integrate my social media efforts into an overall marketing plan?
• What are the best tools for managing all of our social media accounts?
• What is the best formula for developing a social media strategy and how can we
empower employees to make it a success?
• What is the most cost-effective way to integrate social media into our business
plan and strategy?

1
Please note that this question was designed to reveal the single most pressing concern people
want answered. Because only a single answer was allowed, all of these marketing questions are
critical and may represent issues that different businesses face as they grapple with social media
marketing programs. In each case, between 71 and 501 different people asked one of these top
10 questions.


#3: What are the best ways to sell with social media?

Many marketers want to know how to convert fans and followers into paying customers.
Here are a few sample questions in this category:

• How do we move from being social to making deals without breaking the
unwritten rules of the community?
• Can you really make money through social media or is it primarily for building
awareness and loyalty?
• How do I write messages that will generate more sales?
• Are there any established norms for how many social media–generated leads it
takes to yield a sale?

#4: How do I improve customer engagement with social media?

Many marketers aren't sure how to connect with customers and prospects via social
media. Here are a few related questions:

• How do I build a raving fan base through social media?
• How do we get our social media followers to actively engage with us online?
• What kind of content will keep followers coming back to our social media sites?
• What are the best ways to keep our customers interested and get them to refer
our business to their friends?

#5: How do I master the use of specific social media platforms?

Marketers want to understand how to use and optimize their experiences with major
social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and blogs. Here
are sample questions from this cluster group:

• How do I write tweets that will result in more interactions with my social
network?
• I understand how LinkedIn can help me personally, but how can it help my
company?
• What techniques should I use to gain new followers for my Facebook fan page
and how do I convert those fans into clients?
• What are the best ingredients for making a YouTube video that might go viral?


#6: How do I effectively find my target audience with social media?

A significant number of marketers are seeking ways to locate their ideal audience
among the countless masses using social media. Here are some sample questions:

• How can I best grab the attention of prospective customers through social
media?
• In an increasingly crowded space, how do we stand out—without resorting to
gimmicks that only provide short-term gain?
• How can I gain clients and subscribers without seeming pushy?

#7: What are the best practices in social media marketing?

Marketers are looking for proven tactics and strategies to speed them along their social
media paths. Below are some sample questions asked by marketers:

• What are the best practices when it comes to blending personal and professional
messaging through social media?
• How many channels of social media do successful social media marketers use?
• What are the most effective techniques for marketing through each of the main
social media platforms?
• How do I make a message go viral?

#8: How do I use social media in niche markets?

Marketers who service unique vertical industries or niches are looking for specific ways
they should use social media differently for their marketplace. Here are some of their
questions:

• How can non-profits cost-effectively use social media to increase their exposure
and raise funds for their mission?
• How do universities use social media marketing to attract and retain students?
• How can artists and entertainers use social media to gain new fans and sell their
products?
• How do I use social media marketing to target geographical audiences?
• How do we use Facebook and Twitter to market to hospitals and physicians?


#9: What are the trends in social media marketing?

Marketers want to know what the next social media trends will be. Here are a few
questions in this category asked by marketers:

• What will be the next major development in social media?
• What usage trends are occurring across various demographics and industries?
• What's the best way to keep up with all the changes in social media?
• Which social media channels will have longevity?

#10: How do I best use my time to maximize my social media activities?

Marketers are still interested in how to manage the time required to conduct social
media marketing. Below are a few related questions in this category:

• What is the most effective amount of time needed for social media networks?
• How do I keep up with the dialogue when I have a large following and other work
responsibilities?
• How often should I tweet or post to Facebook?
• What tools can I use to more effectively maximize the time spent on social
media?

5 Bonus Questions: Here are a few more questions that didn't make our top 10 list.
Each of these questions was asked by between 47 and 64 different people.

• How do I overcome resistance from managers and clients about the value of
social media?
• How do I get started using social media marketing?
• How can social media marketing be effectively targeted toward B2B sales?
• How do I consistently create content that's compelling and engaging?
• How do I select the right social media tool(s) for my business?

CHANGES SINCE LAST YEAR'S STUDY: Understanding social media best practices has
dropped from number 2 to number 7. Managing the time commitment went from
number 3 to number 10. This year, integration is a major theme, moving from number 9
in 2010 to number 2 in 2011. Many of the top questions marketers wanted answered in
2010 remain in 2011.

SUMMARY: One in three marketers indicated measuring results and integrating social
media activities were their top questions when marketing with social media. As you can
see by examining the above list, marketers have asked some excellent questions. The
remainder of this report will attempt to answer some of those questions.


Join 24 leading social media pros:

and experts from Boeing, Intel, Cisco, LinkedIn,
Timex and Verizon, just to mention a few!

Use of social media marketing
We asked a few questions to determine the survey participants' experience using social
media to market their businesses.

Use of social media marketing

We began by simply asking marketers if they
use social media to market their businesses.
The overwhelming majority (93%) indicated
they were employing social media for
marketing purposes.

Social media is important for my business

A significant 90% of marketers said that
social media was important to their
businesses.

The self-employed (67%) and small business
owners with 2 or more employees (66%) were
more likely to strongly agree.


Experience with social media marketing

When we asked participants to rate their
experience using social media marketing,
about half have less than 1 year of social
media marketing experience.

More B2B companies have been using social
media longer (52.6% reported 1 year or
more) than their B2C counterparts (46.2%
indicated 1 year or longer).

In 2010, only 31% of marketers were using
social media for 1 or more years. Now that
number has grown to 50%.


Time commitment for social media
marketing

A significant 58% of marketers are using social media for 6 hours or more each week
and 34% for 11 or more hours weekly. It's interesting to note that 15% of marketers
spend more than 20 hours each week on social media.

Those with more years of social media experience spend more time each week
conducting social media activities. For example, 63% of people with 3 or more years
of experience spend more than 10 hours a week doing social media activities. Only 41%
of those with 1 to 3 years experience spend that much time.


The experience factor

There's a direct relationship between
how long marketers have been using
social media and their weekly time
commitment. For people just beginning
with social media, 59% spend 1 to 5
hours per week. However, for folks who
have been doing this for a few months
or longer, most spend 6 hours or more
per week on social media activities.

A significant 47% of marketers who
have more than 3 years experience
spend at least 16 hours per week
focused on social media activities.

How the time commitment varies with business type

This chart shows how different-sized businesses invest their time with social media
activities.


Age factor

There's a direct relationship between age and time spent on social media. The younger
the marketer, the more time he or she spends on social media.

People aged 20 to 29 years spend more time than other age groups using social media
marketing (with 41% spending 11+ hours weekly), followed by 30- to 39-year-olds (37%
spending 11+ hours per week). This is an increase over our 2010 study.


Benefits of social media marketing

The number-one benefit of social media marketing is standing out in an increasingly
noisy world. A significant 88% of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts
have generated more exposure for their businesses. Improving traffic and subscribers
was the second major benefit, with 72% reporting positive results.

Nearly two-thirds of marketers indicated a rise in search engine rankings was a benefit
of social media marketing. As search engine rankings improve, so will business
exposure and lead generation efforts, and overall marketing expenses will decrease.
Slightly more than half of marketers found social media generated qualified leads.

Changes since our 2010 study: Increased traffic and subscribers grew a significant 9%
over our study last year. Search rankings also jumped 8% over the prior year.

Some questions that naturally emerge from the above chart might include, "Can I
achieve more benefits by investing more time in social media?", "Are marketers who've
been using social media for years gaining even better results?" and "Is there a difference
between B2B and B2C?"

The following charts address these questions.


Improved sales

It takes time to develop relationships that
lead to actual business. However, a large
percentage of marketers who take the
time find great results.

For example, 72% of marketers who have
been using social media for more than 3
years report it had helped them close
business. More than half who spend 11 or
more hours per week find the same
results.

The self-employed and small business
owners with 2 or more employees most
achieved this benefit (48%).

Generated exposure for my business

Even with a minimal time investment, the
vast majority of marketers (81% or higher)
indicated their social media efforts
increased exposure for their business.

Owners of small businesses (2 to 100
employees) were more likely than others
to report greater exposure (89.2%
reporting benefits).

Nearly all marketers who've been
employing social media marketing for a
year or longer report it generates
exposure for their business. A significant
72% of those conducting social media
activities for more than 3 years strongly
agree.


Resulted in new business partnerships

Those who invest the most time in social
media marketing gain the most business
partnerships. However, 45% of people
who've only invested 12 months or less in
social media marketing report new
partnerships were gained.

Even the majority of those investing 6 to
10 hours per week in social media were
able to build new partnerships.

The self-employed and small business
owners with 2 or more employees were
significantly more likely to benefit from
partnerships, with at least 59% reporting
a benefit.

Marketers selling to other businesses
were more likely to achieve this benefit
(61%) than those selling to consumers
(51%).

Generated qualified leads

By spending as little as 6 hours per week,
52% of marketers see lead generation
benefits with social media.

Small businesses were more likely than
others to strongly agree that qualified
leads were generated (21% strongly
agreed, compared to 14% or less with
other types of businesses).


Reduced overall marketing expenses

The main financial cost of social media
marketing is the time it takes to gain
success. However, a significant
percentage of participants strongly
agreed that overall marketing costs
dropped when social media marketing
was implemented.

The self-employed (59%) and small
business owners with 2 or more
employees (58%) were more likely than
others to see reductions in marketing
costs when using social media marketing.

Improved search rankings

Improved search engine rankings were
most prevalent among those who've been
using social media for a year or longer,
with nearly 73% or more reporting a rise.

At least 65% of those investing a
minimum of 6 hours per week in social
media marketing saw improvements in
search engine rankings.

Marketers selling to other businesses
were more likely to achieve this benefit
(66%) than those selling to consumers
(59%).


Increased traffic/subscribers

A significant 78% of participants found
that increased traffic occurred with as
little as 6 hours per week invested in
social media marketing. And those
who've been doing this for 3 years or
more reported substantially better results
(91% reported benefits).


Commonly used social media tools

By a long shot, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs were the top four social media
tools used by marketers, with Facebook leading the pack. All of the other social media
tools paled in comparison to these top four.

It should be noted that in 2010, Twitter was in first place with 88% and Facebook was
close behind with 87%. Since 2010, Twitter lost 4%, LinkedIn lost 7% and Facebook
gained 5%. In our 2009 study, only 77% of businesses were using Facebook.

The self-employed (80%) and owners of small businesses (78%) were more likely to use
LinkedIn. Larger businesses were more likely to use YouTube or other video and less
likely to use blogs (68%+).

A close examination of which tools more experienced social media marketers are using
compared to those just getting underway provides further insight.


Tools used by those just getting
started

Those just getting underway with
social media marketing rank
Facebook as their number-one
choice (by a long shot), followed
by Twitter and LinkedIn. For those
new to social media marketing,
Twitter has dropped from 71% to
64% since our 2010 study.

Tools used by those using
social media for less than 12
months

For marketers who have been
employing social media marketing
for 12 months or less, Facebook
and Twitter are their top two
choices.

social media for 1 to 3 years

Facebook and Twitter are the two
standouts among the tools used
by social media marketers with 1
to 3 years experience.

social media for 3+ years

Nearly all marketers with 3+ years
of social media experience use
Twitter and Facebook. This group
is also a major proponent of
video, significantly more so than
others.


Tools used by those who
commit small versus large
amounts of time to social
media

This chart shows where those
putting in the least time are
investing versus those putting
in the most time.

There are a few interesting
findings here. Marketers
investing 40+ hours per week
are much more focused on
video and blogs than those
investing a few hours a week
with social media.

Tools used by B2B versus
B2C

This chart shows how B2B
social media use differs from
B2C-focused businesses.

B2C are more focused on
Facebook and B2B are more
focused on LinkedIn and
video. Also note that B2B
companies are utilizing blogs
more.


How will marketers change their social
media activities in the future?
We asked marketers to indicate how they will change their social media use in the near
future. Survey-takers were asked to indicate whether they will increase, decrease,
remain the same or not utilize various social media networks and tools.

At least 73% of marketers plan on increasing their use of YouTube/video, blogs,
Facebook and Twitter. A significant 86% said they have no plans to utilize MySpace or
will reduce their efforts. Here is a breakdown by social media channel:

YouTube/Video

Surprisingly, marketers indicated
that YouTube/video was the top
area in which they planned to
increase their social media efforts.

A significant 77% of marketers plan
on increasing their YouTube
and/or video marketing.

Businesses with 1000 or more
employees indicated this is a key
growth area, with 82% responding
affirmatively.


Facebook

Facebook is clearly a top winner.
92% of marketers are using
Facebook and 75% plan on
increasing their activities. Only 3%
of marketers surveyed do not plan
to utilize Facebook. Second only to
YouTube/video and tied with
blogs, Facebook is an area where
marketers feel they can achieve
substantial results.

80% of B2C plan on increasing
Facebook efforts. 83% of large
businesses will also increase their
Facebook activities. Facebook is
also the top focus for people just
getting started with social media
marketing.

Blogs

Blogs remain a strong area of focus
for social media marketers, with
75% indicating they'll increase their
blogging activities.

The self-employed are more likely
to blog, with 79% reporting
increased activity.

In 2010, 81% of marketers planned
on increasing their blogging
activities.


Twitter

73% of marketers will increase their
activities on Twitter.

Large businesses are most likely to
increase their activities on Twitter,
with 77% reporting.

LinkedIn

As expected, B2B are significantly
more likely to plan on increasing
their use of LinkedIn (71% of B2B
versus 51% of B2C).

The self-employed (68%) were
more likely to increase their use of
LinkedIn.


Social Bookmarking

A mere 40% of businesses plan on
increasing their social
bookmarking activities, while more
than 1 in 3 have no plans to use
social bookmarking.

Forums

Only 36% of businesses will
increase their forum activities,
while 35% have no plans to use
forums.

In 2010, only 27% of marketers had
no plans for using forums. Now
that number jumped to 35%.

39% of B2B plan on increasing their
forum use (versus 34% of B2C).


Geolocation

30% of marketers plan on
increasing their use of geolocation
services like Foursquare.

Larger businesses are more likely
to employ geolocation. 38% of
businesses with 501 to 1000
employees and 42% of businesses
with more than 1000 employees
will increase use of geolocation.

Groupon (or similar)

Only 19% of marketers plan on
increasing their use of Groupon or
a similar group-shopping site.

25% of marketers with 3 or more
years of social media experience
will increase Groupon activities.


MySpace

Most businesses (81%) have no
plans to utilize MySpace and only
5% will increase their MySpace
activities.

This is a further decline since our
2010 study, where 9% of
businesses planned on increasing
their MySpace activities.


Social media tools people want to learn
more about

We asked marketers which social media tools they most want to learn more about.
Facebook slightly edged out blogs for the number-one slot. Social bookmarking and
Twitter tied for third.

In 2010, only 59% of marketers wanted to learn more about Facebook. This year, that
number has jumped up to 70%. Social bookmarking was the number-one area marketers
wanted to learn about in 2010 (61% reporting). However, Facebook and blogs have
jumped in interest.

Businesses with 500 or more employees were significantly more interested in learning
more about geolocation (58%+) than other groups. In addition, those participants aged
60 and older were much more interested in learning about Facebook (78%) and blogs
(77%) than their younger marketing cohorts.

B2C are more interested in learning about Facebook (74%) and blogging (72%) versus
B2B (Facebook and blogging: 65%).

Clearly a lot of people want to learn how to use the many social media tools available.
What follows are tools marketers are interested in based on how long they've been using
social media marketing.


Tools marketers want to learn
more about for those just
getting started

For those just getting underway,
understanding more about social
bookmarking is significantly less
important than for others with
more experience.

more about for those who've
been using social media for less
than 12 months

Learning more about Twitter is
more important than social
bookmarking for these
professionals.

been using social media for 1 to
3 years

These pros place blogging at the
top of their list to learn more
about.

been using social media for 3+
years

For these experienced pros, social
bookmarking is at the top of their
list to learn more about.


Social media outsourcing

We asked marketers if they were outsourcing any of their social media marketing efforts.
The overwhelming majority said no. However, the number of those who are outsourcing
has doubled since our 2010 report, from 14% to 28%.

These are the tasks that marketers are outsourcing to third parties:

Design and development, content creation and analytics are the top three areas that
social media marketers are outsourcing. Those with 3 or more years experience are
more likely to outsource design and development tasks (32%).


Other forms of marketing

We asked social media marketers what other types of marketing they were participating
in. The top three included email marketing, search engine optimization and event
marketing.

B2B marketers were significantly more likely to employ search engine optimization (71%
B2B vs. 65% B2C) and event marketing (70% B2B vs. 58% B2C). Organizations with 1000
or more employees were more likely to participate in event marketing (73%).

Social media marketers with 3 or more years of experience were more likely to
participate in search engine optimization (80%) and event marketing than others (79%).

A close examination of how social media marketers will change their non-social media
activities in the near future provides further insight.


How will marketers change other
activities in the future?
We asked social media marketers to indicate how they will change their use of non-
social media activities in the near future. Survey-takers were asked to indicate whether
they would increase, decrease, remain the same or not utilize various marketing
methods.

At least 64% of marketers plan on increasing their use of search engine optimization and
email marketing. Here is a breakdown by marketing channel:

Search engine optimization

Surprisingly, most marketers (71%)
indicated they were planning on
increasing their search engine
optimization efforts.

Email marketing

Nearly 2 in 3 marketers (64%) plan
on increasing their email marketing
efforts in the near future.

Small businesses were more likely
to do so than large businesses.


Event marketing

A significant 60% of marketers plan
on increasing their event marketing
and speaking engagements.

B2B are significantly more likely
(67%) to increase event marketing
than B2C (53%). The self-employed
(70%) and small business owners
(65%) are significantly more likely
to use event marketing than large
corporations (43% to 38%,
depending on number of
employees).

Online advertising

Slightly less than half (46%) plan on
increasing their online advertising
efforts.

Large businesses (1000 or more
employees) were most likely to
increase online advertising (53%).

B2C companies were more likely
(50%) than B2B (42%) to increase
their use of online ads.


Press releases

Surprisingly, 80% of marketers plan
on either keeping the same levels
or increasing their use of press
releases, with 43% planning an
increase.

Small businesses were significantly
more likely to employ press
releases than larger ones. For
example, 52% of small business
owners plan on increasing their
use, compared with only 24% of
businesses with 500 to 1000
employees.

Webinars and teleseminars

Another surprising finding was that
42% of businesses have no plans to
use webinars or teleseminars.
When this is contrasted with the
large percentage that employ
physical event marketing, it would
seem that many businesses are not
yet sold on the idea of virtual
events.

Small businesses were much more
likely to increase their use of this
marketing tactic. For example, 49%
of the self-employed are planning
an increase, compared to just 27%
of businesses with 500 to 1000
employees.

B2B companies were significantly
more likely (52%) than B2C (33%) to
use webinars or teleseminars.


Sponsorships

Most marketers (39%) have no
plans to utilize sponsorships.

Direct mail

Marketers are more likely to
decrease their use of direct mail
than any other marketing channels
(17% planning to decrease).

Only 17% plan on increasing their
use of direct mail. Of those
planning on increasing direct mail,
the self-employed were most likely
(21%). Only 8% of large businesses
with 1000 or more employees plan
on increasing. 28% of those large
businesses will decrease their use
of direct mail.

Print ads

A significant 55% of marketers
either have no plans to use or will
decrease their use of print ads.
B2C (15%) were more likely to
reduce their use of print
advertising compared to B2C (9%).


Radio ads

Most marketers (68%) have no
plans to use radio ads.

B2C are more likely (11%) to
increase their use of radio ads than
B2B (5.1%).

Television ads

Only 6% of marketers plan on
increasing television ads.

10% of businesses with 500
employees or more plan on
increasing their use of television
ads.


Survey participant demographics
We leveraged social media and email to find participants for our survey. We started with
a post on Twitter in January 2011. It simply said, "Take the 2011 Social Media Marketing
Industry Survey. Participants get free copy" and included a link to the survey. The
message was retweeted hundreds of times by other marketers. In addition, many people
posted links to the survey on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites. We asked
survey participants to help spread the word about our study. Finally, a list of 50,000
marketers was emailed and asked to take the survey. After 10 days, we closed the
survey with 3342 participants.

Here are the demographic breakdowns:

Survey participants

The largest group who took the survey
was self-employed (33%) followed by
people working for a company with up to
100 employees (30%). 19% of people
taking the survey worked for businesses
with 100 or more employees.

Half of survey participants were focused
primarily on attracting businesses (B2B)
and the other half primarily targeted
consumers (B2C).


Age of participants

Most survey participants (74%) were
between the ages of 30 and 59. The
median age was 40 to 49.

Gender

Females edged out males, representing
60% of all participants.

Country

Most participants (64%) were based in the
United States.


About Michael A. Stelzner
MarketingSherpa calls Michael the "grandfather of white
papers." He's author of the new book, Launch: How to Quickly
Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition (June 2011)
and the book, Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers
and Keep Them Engaged.

Michael is also the founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com, a top online business
magazine dedicated to social media. Technorati ranks SocialMediaExaminer.com as one
of the top 100 business blogs in the world. Michael is also the man behind large online
professional development conferences, such as Social Media Success Summit.

Follow Michael on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mike_stelzner

Email: report@socialmediaexaminer.com

To learn more about social media marketing,
please visit SocialMediaExaminer.com


Social Media Examiner: Social mediamarketingreport2011

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